The Treatise on Fortification by Guarino Guarini

Abstract

Renowned for Baroque architectural masterpieces such as the Chapel of the Holy Shroud and the Church of San Lorenzo, both in Torino, Guarino Guarini (1624–1683) also composed a treatise on fortification, published in 1676. At the time Guarini was part of the Savoy Court and was tutor to Prince Ludovico Giulio di Carignano, a relative of the Duke of Savoy. After a brief presentation of the events in Guarini’s life leading up to his residency in the Savoy city of Turin, and a description of the science of military architecture in his day, this present paper discusses Guarini’s treatise and compares it to the work of his contemporaries, Claude-François Milliet Dechales (1621–1678) and Nicolas-François Blondel (1618–1686).